Bloc Québécois won’t support Pierre Poilievre’s non-confidence motion

OTTAWA – Canada abstained today from a high-profile United Nations vote demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank within a year.

Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, told the assembly the motion was too one-sided to support, though he said Ottawa agrees that Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian territories.

This morning’s non-binding vote passed 124-14, and Canada was among 43 abstentions.

The State of Palestine brought the motion to the UN General Assembly, and Israel says the vote amounts to “diplomatic terrorism.”

The resolution is based on a July ruling by the International Court of Justice, which condemned Israel’s rule over lands it captured in 1967 by force, saying this violates international laws.

Last December, Canada stopped its decade-long policy of backing Israel in almost any United Nations vote over concerns about the lack of progress toward a humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

— With files from The Associated Press.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

VANCOUVER – The Pivot Legal Society and the BC Civil Liberties Association say they’ve launched three complaints against the Vancouver Police Department alleging illegal surveillance and police brutality against pro-Palestine protesters.

The association and the society say the complaints stem from the “violent dispersal” of protesters who demonstrated at a Vancouver rail crossing in May.

In a statement, the groups say the two “service and policy” complaints to the Vancouver Police Board involve police actions against “pro-Palestine demonstrators,” where they were allegedly met with “extensive forms of policing violence” and unlawful surveillance tactics through the use of police drones and officer smartphones.

They say another complaint to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner involves VPD Const. Dimitri Sheinerman, who is facing a Police Act investigation after he was photographed with an Israeli flag patch on his uniform with a “punisher” skull.

The groups say the police force has “allowed anti-Palestinian racism to persist within its ranks,” and actions against demonstrators have violated their Charter rights to freedom of expression.

Meghan McDermott, BC Civil Liberties Association policy director, says there have been “systemic rights violations” against people demonstrating for Palestinian human rights due to police bias and “undemocratic practices.”

The Vancouver Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaints.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

OTTAWA – A Conservative MP who was targeted by Beijing told a federal inquiry today that Canada has become “a playground” for foreign interference.

Michael Chong, the Tory foreign affairs critic, said the federal government should shed its culture of secrecy and release more information about threats to better inform the public.

Chong said while the vast majority of intelligence must remain secret, keeping too much information under wraps results in leaks that undermine institutions.

In May 2023, the federal government confirmed a media report that Canada’s spy service had information in 2021 that the Chinese government was looking at ways to intimidate Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong.

Global Affairs Canada said in August 2023 it believed that Chong had been the victim of a foreign smear campaign, which the department suspected was conducted by Beijing.

The department said a co-ordinated network of news accounts on the social-media app WeChat posted a large volume of false or misleading narratives about Chong from May 4 to 13 of that year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.